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Modern technology just a bit too … modern for you? If the design aesthetic of the 21st century has you longing for something a bit more retro, there may be a solution. Meet the Lofree, a nostalgic yet decidedly new-age keyboard that combines elements of the past with today’s innovations and advances. Heralded as “the first mechanical keyboard inspired by typewriters,” the Lofree is an elegant take on a generation past.

Following a successful initial Indiegogo campaign that raised over $700,000, Lofree is now back with its second-generation keyboard. Called the Four Seasons, the new keyboard features four new sets of mixed-color keycaps to bring some whimsy into your typography, as well as a few adjustments to key positions that claim to make typing a bit easier. For example, the backspace and caps lock buttons have been enlarged, and the 1 button has been moved to the upper left hand side of the Q key to more closely mimic an Apple keyboard.

Designed with Mac users in mind, the Lofree keyboard has the exact layout as that of an Apple device. This sets it apart from the vast majority of other wireless keyboards on the market, which generally adopt PC designs. But while it’s all about modern technology, it has quite a bit of nostalgic charm. Its round keycaps that give the keyboard a vintage, classic look. They even feel and sound like typewriting keys, but you won’t have to worry about them getting stuck all the time.

The compact keyboard can be used in wireless or wired mode (so you can pair it with just about any device you want), and is compatible with most operating systems — Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. So if you want to pair the Lofree with a tablet, be it an iPad or an Android, have at it. In fact, you can pair the Lofree with up to three devices simultaneously, so you’re not spending all your time configuring and reconfiguring just to send an email. And with three different backlit settings, you’ll always be able to set the right mood with this keyboard.

With a month left in its new campaign, the Lofree has already raised over $43,000. You can pre-order one now for $74, and select from four unique color schemes. Delivery is anticipated for March 2018.

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If you’re not the sort of person who drops money on paid versions of every app, then it’s pretty much impossible to have not come across an ad-supported app in your lifetime. For the most part, ads are a harmless nuisance that appears at the edge of whatever games you’re playing or app you’re using. You might click them, you might not, but they’re there anyway; your constant companion. They’re a fact of life.

Some unscrupulous advertisers, though, have been abusing this goodwill, and some users have found apps were now pushing ads straight to their lockscreen notification area. Android Police noted previously safe apps ES Explorer File Manager, Peel Universal Remote, and Hotspot Shield VPN were among others that had been updated to serve apps outside of the app itself, and thankfully, Google has now cracked down on that.

The updated ad policy is slightly more complicated than “no ads on the lockscreen,” but the general rule of thumb is advertisers are no longer allowed to serve adverts outside of the app’s direct remit. So if you’re a file explorer app, that means no lockscreen ads. If you’re an app that directly affects the lockscreen … well, you’re allowed to still serve ads there. It’s technically part of the app, and that’s what you signed up for when you downloaded it.

This isn’t the first time Google has cracked down on annoying ad practices. Back in 2013, Google banned what were known as “Airpush” notifications; adverts that went straight to your notifications, whether you were in the app or not.

It’s clear that Google has been pushing this way for a while. Android 8.0 Oreo — for those on hardware that will receive the update — will come with features that allow the user even more control over which apps get access to their lockscreen, and simply won’t allow apps to access the lockscreen if they haven’t been allowed to. Android 6.0 Marshmallow was the first version of Google’s OS that gave users more complete control over which permissions apps got access to, and it’s clear Google is happy to continue walking down that path of user-friendliness.

Now the coast is clear, how’s about downloading some of our favorite Android apps, and Android games?

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Health professionals and tech companies alike have been quick to remind folks that while those fitness bracelets and smartwatches can help improve your health, they are no substitute for real medical devices. But now, the line between wearable and the real thing is beginning to blur, as the Food and Drug Administration approved the first medical device accessory for the Apple Watch. Called the KardiaBand, this accessory comes from the team at AliveCor, and makes use of the Apple Watch’s heart-rate technology and a sensor to provide accurate EKG readings in just 30 seconds. This, medical professionals say, could help detect abnormalities in heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation, and subsequently, send this information to a doctor.

Available for $199, the KardiaBand is just a band that can be used in place of your current Apple Watch wristband. Located immediately below the Apple Watch is a silver sensor, where you can place your finger for a reading. The Apple Watch will then show results using a familiar line graph (it’s much like the one that Apple Watch already uses to show your heart rate data) and inform users if their heart rate is anything out of the ordinary.

The key to the KardiaBand is AliveCor’s SmartRhythm technology, a new feature within the Apple Watch’s Kardia app. SmartRhythm employs artificial intelligence alongside Apple Watch heart rate and activity sensors to “continuously evaluate the correlation between heart activity and physical activity,” the company noted in a release.

“KardiaBand paired with SmartRhythm technology will be life-changing for people who are serious about heart health,” AliceCor CEO Vic Gundotra said in a statement. “These capabilities will allow people to easily and discreetly check their heart rhythms when they may be abnormal, capturing essential information to help doctors identify the issue and inform a clear path of care to help manage AFib, a leading cause of stroke, and other serious conditions.”

While the hardware is $199, you have to pay an additional $99 a year to subscribe to AliveCor’s Premium service, which powers the whole setup. This fee includes SmartRhythm notifications on Apple Watch, unlimited EKG recordings, automatic detection of Atrial Fibrillation or normal sinus rhythm, the unlimited ability to send EKG readings to anyone via email, unlimited cloud history and reporting of all EKGs ever taken, weight and medication tracking, and a mailed monthly paper report on readings taken each calendar month.

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With ever expanding costs of healthcare around the world, and a rapidly aging global population, the challenge of how to make the future services affordable and intuitive for contemporary patients is huge. As with many of humanity’s great problems, we may turn to technology to solve it. Digital developer Y Media Labs believes it’s struck upon the solution with Amazon’s Alexa vocal assistant.

While hardware like Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot have made it possible for users to play music, find out information, and operate smart gadgets by voice alone, Y Media Labs sees greater potential. It’s been working on Alexa-powered prototypes that could revolutionize the way healthcare works for us, making it more self-sufficient and accessible.

Spotting the potential

Any company can make speculative claims about what the ‘future’ will be. Today, some suggest virtual and augmented reality are about to change the world, while others say it’s going to take a few years.

“My four-year-old doesn’t know how to look at a watch, but he knows how to tell the time because he can ask Alexa what the time is.”

When Y Media Labs thinks it’s cottoned on to a potential game changer, though, it’s worth listening. It rode the wave of mainstream popularity that came with advances in mobile hardware and software, and that’s put it in the right position to leapfrog to the next great innovation in mainstream technological interaction.

“Since I started the company in 2009, we have grown significantly,” explained Y Media Labs CEO Ashis Toshniwal in a chat with DigitalTrends. “I started the company in my dining room, and now we are 230 people. One of the key reasons we have grown is because mobile, iOS and Android. When they launched, people thought it was a fad. But we had faith that there was a huge chance that this may be mainstream and eight years later, it has become mainstream.”

Over the years Y Media Labs has worked with the likes of Facebook, Staples, Paypal, and Home Depot, helping them leverage new technologies to expand their sales practices and functionality for consumers. In each case Y Media was ahead of the curve, which is why even some of the most prolific technology companies hired on its services to help push the envelope of their digital offerings.

Toshniwal believes Y Media is again on the cusp of a new generation of mainstream technological acceptance — with Alexa, and other vocal assistants.

“The way I look at Alexa is that my four-year-old doesn’t know how to look at a watch, but he knows how to tell the time because he can ask [our Echo Dot] what the time is,” Toshniwal said. “Last week I saw him frustrated working with his Lego, and his natural response was to ask Alexa how to fix it.”

It’s this intuitive, naturalistic interaction that has Toshniwal so excited. If his four-year-old son can use the Echo Dot’s potential at such a tender age, there’s no reason that everyone else can’t.

“If you look at the history, when the internet was born, it was all point and click. You go to a website, you click, you checkout or go to another website. That was mainstream,” he said. “And then iPhone and Android came and they leveraged touch and touch became mainstream, because touch is a very natural human way of experiencing things. Now voice is on the verge of becoming mainstream, because I feel […] you don’t have to understand how it works, you just talk to it.”

Speaking up about health

The fact the old and the young can so easily use Alexa is what has Toshniwal so excited about its potential to improve health care. He believes its adoption, once started, will be swift and complete.

Y Media Labs’ first attempt to use Alexa in a healthcare setting involved patient follow-up after surgery. Poor aftercare is the most common reason people end up back in hospital, Toshniwal said. Patients often become confused about how and when to take medication, or don’t know how to respond to changes in their symptoms. Toshniwal believes Alexa devices like the Echo could help in these cases, and Y Media Labs has developed a prototype to prove it.

“Let’s say the patient is connected to all of their kit, diabetes, blood pressure, they can weigh themselves every day and it’s all connected to the Alexa system,” he explained. “If the blood pressure goes beyond the certain limit, [they can use] Alexa to tell [doctors] how they are feeling. We demonstrated that with the Box prototype. Alexa can speak to them like, ‘hey, today you have to take this medication and the exercise for today is this.’”

Toshniwal also thinks Alexa could help with insurance. Many young patients don’t understand how their insurance works, what’s covered, and what tax deductibles they might have because of it. Trends. To fix that, Y Media Labs is developing a conceptual system that would allow users to ask about key information directly through their Alexa assistant.

“That’s another area where Alexa can help today, where millennials can talk to Alexa, ‘how much is my flexible spending account (FSA) remaining?’ What is my co pay? What is the doctor nearby? All that stuff,” he said.

If you build, it they will come

The healthcare industry is already listening to what Toshniwal has to say. Though these ideas are still prototypes, hospitals and healthcare companies are already showing interest, and want to help advance healthcare into a new age with vocal assistants.

“You don’t have to understand how it works. You just talk to it.”

“I have been so surprised that there has been no process to it,” Toshniwal laughed. “We saw a use case, we developed the prototype [with Box] and we just shot a video and put it online. And what we saw was that these companies [are excited]. We’re working with massive hospital chains in America [and] different healthcare companies which are more than $10 billion in market cap and they have seen what we have done and asked us, ‘can you help us bring this to fruition?’”

That cooperation with major hospitals is a key part of making Alexa the versatile tool Toshniwal believes it can be. To bring Alexa to patients all over the country and the world, it will need to be able to interface with existing hospital systems and APIs, and considering major organizations – specifically in healthcare — are some of the slowest to update, that’s going to take some work.

Patient confidentiality

Privacy is one concern holding back the potential of digital assistants in healthcare. Alexa is effectively an open microphone in a patient’s home. We asked Toshniwal how this problem of trust may be compounded in a setting where deeply personal healthcare information is being discussed with Alexa services, and transferred through Amazon servers.

While he acknowledged that some security measures need to be put in place, he said existing data protection practices in hospitals and healthcare facilities should be enough.

“I feel that’s a matter of time, where Alexa will be able to recognize voice, whether it’s coming from Jon or Ashish or whoever, and accordingly Alexa is going to hold back data and they will only give it out to the person who’s sensitive data it is,” he said. “Today […]you have a password on your bank account and your desktop or laptop is sitting at home. Anyone could go on and see all of this information. That has not been an issue, because the home in itself is a very private environment to begin with. I feel like [privacy] is not going to be a big hurdle, once the technology matures a little more.”

That’s an optimistic outlook on what is a rather contentious topic. Breaches in healthcare institutions are far from an irregular occurrence, especially if you look at the problem as an international one. Any introduction of new, heavily connected technology will need to be carefully considered to make sure that patient data is protected. Making sure that it’s not funneled through the same channels as consumer-focused Alexa data would be a must.

Although Toshniwal wouldn’t be drawn on specifics about whether Y Media Labs could be involved in developing such protections, it is clearly beavering away behind the scenes on many advances in Alexa technology, and leveraging them in a healthcare environment. Hurdles do remain before Alexa can become mainstream, but Toshniwal is convinced it’s just a matter of time. Indeed, it could come sooner than expected, as he promised a major announcement on that front towards the end of the year.

Alexa, watch this space for us.

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There’s still a whole month left of 2017 (and Christmas!), so now might not be the best time to release your best of 2017 list — but, apparently, nobody thought to tell Google.

Google’s Best of 2017 list compiles the best-selling, most-streamed, and most-downloaded movies, TV shows, books, songs, games, and apps from the entirety of Google’s Play Store, throughout 2017. We’re not going to list all the winners, but some of them deserve commenting on.

It’s clearly been a very good year for a few of the entries on the list and success in the Play Store usually indicates some form of success outside of the store too. Disney has clearly had a fantastic year, with four out of the five best-selling movies on the list being connected with one of their licenses, with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Moana, and two Marvel films making the grade. Out the movie winners, only Wonder Woman doesn’t belong to the House of Mouse.

The theme of outside success impacting on the Play Store continued into the list of best-selling books; two of the winning books saw major adaptations this year, with both Stephen King’s It and Thirteen Reasons Why making the top five. Hype is clearly huge for the upcoming Ready Player One movie, with sales of the 2011 released book being enough to get into fifth place. It’s a similar story in the gaming section, with Super Mario Run topping the list of the most popular 2017 release — sales of the Nintendo Switch are constantly soaring, and Super Mario Run is clearly riding that wave.

No one should be surprised to see the list of TV shows, with long-time favorites Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead making the grade. Rick & Morty beat out The Walking Dead to take a second place, though fans may be sad to see the animation wasn’t enough to beat the dominance of Game of Thrones. In apps, it has clearly been a mixed year, with Android users alternately editing their photos, checking out the weather forecast, and watching old cartoons and viral videos.

You can check out the full list over on Google’s blog, and you can find all the winners in the special Best of 2017 section on the Play Store. While you’re at it, check out our favorite Android apps as well.

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Only a small batch of humans will ever get to experience the wonders and terrors of spacewalking within the next decade, but now you can safely get a taste in virtual reality through Home — A VR Spacewalk. The 15-minute session outside the International Space Station is free and available now for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets.

The virtual spacewalk is a result of a collaboration between London-based digital production studio Rewind, BBC Science, BBC Learning, BBC Digital Storytelling, NASA, and the ESA. Originally created for the HTC Vive using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4, Home — A VR Spacewalk began making its initial appearances at events starting in June 2016, but is now made generally available.

In Home, virtual astronauts step into the shoes of Tim Peake as he ventures out into space 250 miles above the Earth. His most recent trip to the space station lasted 186 days with lots of coffee in tow, and concluded when he touched ground in June 2016. Peake didn’t return to space until he donned the HTC Vive in early November to experience the very virtual spacewalk he helped create.

“That’s cool! Really good graphics, brilliant! We don’t have the ability to control our movement like this in Houston. I’m moving faster than I could in real life, but this is great for orientation; this would be perfect for training,” he said after a lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society.

According to Rewind, the VR spacewalk includes support for haptic feedback chairs so virtual astronauts can feel similar full-body vibrations experienced by astronauts when they come in physical contact with the space station. There’s also a Bluetooth component that monitors your heart rate, and replicates the sound of your beating heart.

“Exploring space is something that motivates a lot of young people to enter careers in science and technology,” he added. “This is a really exciting time because the new generation will have unprecedented opportunities to really fly into space. The Home Virtual Reality experience brings that opportunity even closer, in a very authentic and accessible way.”

Home provides plenty of challenges for virtual astronauts to deal with, just like Tim Peake and his spacewalking comrades. The experience also promises an “emergency scenario” so you’re not just floating around in space like all the other human-injected debris and galactic junk circling the Earth. The overall experience has thrilled viewers over the last year and a half to the point of landing numerous awards, including Best Immersive Experience at Binge Watch.

To this date, only 215 humans have walked in space since man first journeyed into the void. But with Home – A VR Spacewalk, any HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owner can get a taste without the million-dollar expense and risks of sudden death. The only “expense” for virtual astronauts is the computer and VR headset investment while the only “danger” is possibly tripping over the headset cable if you’re standing during the experience.

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Every new platform needs some big-name content to gain momentum in the market, whether it’s an operating system needing important apps or a gaming platform needing popular titles. Apple has that content in spades when it comes to iOS, but its augmented reality (AR) platform, ARKit, still needs to pick up some steam if it’s going to be successful in competing with the more established competition. It’s received just that with the addition of Lego AR-Studio to its lineup.

As Wired reports, the new iOS app that’s being released today represents one of the Lego brand’s first forays into AR. As Tom Donaldson, vice president of the Lego Group’s Creative Play Lab, puts it, “This app is a completely new play from Lego, mixing the physical and digital. You hold an iPhone or an iPad in your hand, and you can see your surroundings on the screen — your room, your table, that sort of thing. It can sense surfaces, and you can place virtual Lego models into your real world.”

Lego AR-Studio isn’t a direct replacement for the physical versions of the company’s iconic modular blocks. Rather, it allows kids to layer the AR experience on top of the physical world and play with both virtual and physical elements at the same time. For now, the AR blocks don’t directly recognize their physical versions, but implementing the capability is a goal that Lego is actively working toward.

In addition, as Forbes points out, AR-Studio lets kids add in active Lego characters that interact with whatever virtual Lego elements happen to be in a particular scene, and then utilize scrips that carry out actions in response. This creates an interactive element that makes the entire experience more engaging.

For now, AR-Studio is only available for iOS 11 devices that support ARKit and sport A9 processors and better. That means the iPhone 6S and later, the 2017 iPad, and the iPad Pro. Supported Lego sets include:

60047 — Lego City Police Station

60052 — Lego City Train Set

60110 — Lego City Fire Station

70593 — Lego Ninjago The Green NRG Dragon

70632 — Lego Ninjago Movie — Cole’s Mech

70618 — Lego Ninjago Movie — Destiny’s Bounty

Kids can also share their experiences with videos creating using AR-Studio, making it a social affair. For now, the entire experience comes at no charge, but there’s likely room for Lego to adopt an in-app purchase model.

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Every new platform needs some big-name content to gain momentum in the market, whether it’s an operating system needing important apps or a gaming platform needing popular titles. Apple has that content in spades when it comes to iOS, but its augmented reality (AR) platform, ARKit, still needs to pick up some steam if it’s going to be successful in competing with the more established competition. It’s received just that with the addition of Lego AR-Studio to its lineup.

As Wired reports, the new iOS app that’s being released today represents one of the Lego brand’s first forays into AR. As Tom Donaldson, vice president of the Lego Group’s Creative Play Lab, puts it, “This app is a completely new play from Lego, mixing the physical and digital. You hold an iPhone or an iPad in your hand, and you can see your surroundings on the screen — your room, your table, that sort of thing. It can sense surfaces, and you can place virtual Lego models into your real world.”

Lego AR-Studio isn’t a direct replacement for the physical versions of the company’s iconic modular blocks. Rather, it allows kids to layer the AR experience on top of the physical world and play with both virtual and physical elements at the same time. For now, the AR blocks don’t directly recognize their physical versions, but implementing the capability is a goal that Lego is actively working toward.

In addition, as Forbes points out, AR-Studio lets kids add in active Lego characters that interact with whatever virtual Lego elements happen to be in a particular scene, and then utilize scrips that carry out actions in response. This creates an interactive element that makes the entire experience more engaging.

For now, AR-Studio is only available for iOS 11 devices that support ARKit and sport A9 processors and better. That means the iPhone 6S and later, the 2017 iPad, and the iPad Pro. Supported Lego sets include:

60047 — Lego City Police Station

60052 — Lego City Train Set

60110 — Lego City Fire Station

70593 — Lego Ninjago The Green NRG Dragon

70632 — Lego Ninjago Movie — Cole’s Mech

70618 — Lego Ninjago Movie — Destiny’s Bounty

Kids can also share their experiences with videos creating using AR-Studio, making it a social affair. For now, the entire experience comes at no charge, but there’s likely room for Lego to adopt an in-app purchase model.

Editors’ Recommendations

Pack your Lego-proof slippers — Airbnb is giving away a night at the Lego House

What is Windows Mixed Reality? It’s simpler than you think

From horror fests to shoot-’em-ups, here are the 20 best Oculus Rift games

The Virtual Singapore project aims to digitize an entire city

MAC Virtual Try-on Mirror review

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You know those times when you misplace your water bottle for a few days, and then when you find it and open it up it smells like death? That gross smell is caused by germs and bacteria that just thrive in stagnant water. Not only is it yucky, it’s also very unhealthy and could be a breeding ground for e.coli, Salmonella or worse. Nasty stuff. But with everyone switching over to reusable water bottles, it can be a real hassle keeping yours clean.

The QUARTZ Water Bottle wants to permanently eliminate that issue with its built-in water purification system that uses UV-C light to purify your water so that every sip you take is fresh and clean. This 18oz water bottle is double-insulated and powered by a long-lasting battery that’s rechargeable via USB. When you fill your bottle, simply press the button on the lid and the UV-C light will purify your water in 60 seconds — and it also automatically cleans itself every 4 hours so even if you don’t touch your water bottle for a full day you’ll know the water is safe to drink every time.

The QUARTZ Water Bottle absolutely crushed its Kickstarter goal, surpassing $1 million, but there’s still a few days left to back this project and get your own self-cleaning water bottle at a discounted price. The QUARTZ will retail for $99 but you can save some money and help the environment by backing with a pledge today. You can get your very own with a pledge of $59, or pledge $118 or more to get two bottles. As with all these Kickstarter campaigns, the more you spend the better the deal. Interested in going to CES? For $229 you can get four QUARTZ bottles along with two travel sleeves and two tickets to CES in Las Vegas — that’s a $200 value alone!

This is the first Kickstarter campaign for the team behind the QUARTZ, but they sure seem to have a hit on their hands having surpassed their fundraising goal 35 times over. The QUARTZ is available in your choice of five colors and is expected to start shipping out to backers in March 2018. If you’re done with plastic water bottles but also hate having to clean the stink out of your reusable water bottle every other day, the QUARTZ is the water bottle you’ve been waiting for!

See Quartz Self-Cleaning Water Bottle on Kickstarter

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Drones are hot right now and have been for a few years. There are drone racing competitions, tons of tricks you can do, and tons of footage you can shoot (drones are constantly used TV and film production now). People have been flying model airplanes for decades, but drones up the “coolness” factor and are often considerably less expensive than most flying model planes.

TRNDlabs’ Spectre Drone is an awesome mid-range drone that’s not necessarily for novices but certainly doesn’t require an expert hand to fly. It regularly retails for $149.99, but Android Central Digital Offers has it for $92.99. And right now, when you use code CYBER20, you can take an addition 20% off and get it for $79.99!

The Spectre offers wonderful stability for anyone who isn’t a hardened, experience drone pilot. It features fly-assist features, including enhanced auto take-off and landing, and it can even hover so you can get awesome shots from any height you choose. It also has a range of 50 meters, so you can fly it the width of a football field and watch a live field the whole way using the companion app.

If you’re looking to get into drone flying or want to buy a gift for someone who does, the TRNDlabs Spectre Drone is an awesome way to get started, since it’s not so simple that it gets boring quickly and not so advanced that you need years of practice before take-off. Check it out at Android Central Digital Offers and be sure to use code CYBER20 to get it for $79.99.